In preparation for the upcoming Holiday Club, the leaders had training last week. It was constructive chaos. We painted breathtakingly beautiful rocks, a sublime submarine and some pretty average looking fish. We got leaders to run games and lessons and didn’t tell them that one teen would be tasked to be “the difficult child”. There was even a crash course in how to lead aerobics which resulted in some very confused delivery men walking into the youth centre to see 10 teens dressed as circus animals doing the cha cha slide.
The very first exercise we did though was to leave our pride at the door. On Sundays in Children’s Church, some of the teens will often only do the dances that go with the worship songs, if everyone else is doing it. Out of fear of appearing too invested in this childish worship and possibly being laughed at, they often just stand still, talking or snickering at the leaders who were brave enough to come up to the front. For so many reasons, that won’t fly at Holiday Club.
So, the first thing the leaders were asked to do was identify all the things that might stop them from giving their all at the Holiday Club. Any people they were afraid to embarrass themselves in front of. Any fears they had about doing silly things to entertain the kids. All concepts of personal pride were written down in secret and then ripped up, thrown in the bin or drowned in a cup of coffee. From that point onwards, the goal was to commit to being the best leader the kids needed, regardless of how crazy they needed to act.
Although most adults will not be called upon to dress like a pirate and then jump on the stage for five minutes, there are other areas where our pride can be put to the test. This Lent period, have you given up something commonly done or eaten? Let’s say you gave up tea and coffee. Now when you meet up with friends or family who are not Anglican or even Christian, how do you respond to their confusion that you are not drinking “the one thing you relied on to make you feel human”? Do you brush it off to avoid talking about Lent? Do you say it’s for Lent, and leave it at that? Do you say it’s for Lent and answer any other questions they have? Ethan, my boyfriend, was faced with a similar issue multiple times throughout this period of Lent and handled it with far more grace than I could!
Simple things like saying grace when you are out at a restaurant can be uncomfortable. Holding hands in public? Whispering over your food with your eyes closed? What will people think!? It is not easy. Turning off the Christian music in your car when you’re giving someone a lift: perfectly fine if you’re having a conversation and it’s too loud. Problematic when you feel awkward for “exposing” them to your music. Compromising on the standards you have set for yourself, so that you can downplay the importance of your faith to you and avoid being labelled as overly religious.
In our daily lives, we have the opportunity to live righteous, Christ centred lives but we are mortified by the idea of appearing too religious and being classed with the “Bible bashers”. This is not a call to active evangelism (I’ll save that for another Newsletter!) This is a simple call to not be ashamed of the Gospel. To use opportunities that are given to us, to open conversation about Christ, and to normalise expressing our faith in the little things in our lives.
Publicly proclaiming God’s message takes prayer and preparation. When you get put on the spot with a question or decision, you don’t have time for that preparation and your prayer is not a meditative space of centering yourself in God, but an arrow shot up quickly. The teens needed to accept possibly looking weird in front of the kids, in order for them to be willing and able to serve the Lord. Sometimes the only way to prepare ourselves for the probing questions and looks is to humbly accept that God will lead us into experiences where we might feel uncomfortable. But in these experiences, there is a wonderful opportunity to show the relationship we have with our wonderful God.
Much love in Christ
Heather P